Weslaco Museum
There is good, bad, and mediocre to report. The bad is that I have to learn to keep my hands in my pockets and not volunteer. Early in the year I had two projects in development. One was the Texas Blvd project. Years ago, the city gave the museum a stash of tax records and they sat waiting for someone to throw them away. I started looking at them and found a treasure.
The records were on large index cards and documented the size of the property, a list of utilities, the owner of the property (the person being billed), and on the back a photo of the property. These photos are from 1960. I know this because the Kodak photo has the date printed along the edge.
My project is an exhibit of photos documenting the businesses along Texas Blvd (the city's main street). Since the Museum has little from the north side of town, Hispanic side, this exhibit would put a spotlight on that neglected part of the city's history. The pictures are in order 300 S. Texas, 301, 303, 305, etc. The exhibit will show the 1960 pictures and the 2015 photos showing what is there now. Iam hoping to have it up by November. Here are some pix.
I recently commented that history is getting younger. A 45 year old Museum visitor with two kids and a wife is clueless about the high school I attended or that the picture of French's Lawnmower Repair above was a 5 and 10 called Perry's after 1960. That's my ongoing project. I am also working on a lecture for the Winter Texans,"South Texas During the Civil War: The Captain, the Bandit, the General, and the Emperor." I will talk about Capt. King (King Ranch), a riverboat transporter of southern cotton and guns from England. The General is Robert E.Lee before Virginia joined the Confederacy. The Bandit was Juan Cortina. He was a bandit to the Gringos. He lost land and cattle when the border was moved after 1848.. The Emperor was Maximillian in Mexico. Still in the works.
Continue on the next port: Museum Part 2
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